King Solomon and Rising Gasoline Prices

So what could  King Solomon have to say about the price of gasoline when it did not exist when he lived?

Gasoline was not a vital commodity three thousand years ago, but grain was. Gasoline is vital today because millions of average Joes and Janes need it to drive to work in order to pay for food (grain) to feed their families.

A speculator today who buys future oil contracts solely to profit, in other words has no need for the oil to use for business or home use, in my personal opinion fits the description of the most hated man in a King Solomon proverb I described in a previous post. HERE

So who are these speculators?  Banks, hedge funds, and private risk takers with lots of money available to gamble and when they win, it increases the price of gasoline by as much as twenty five percent according to some estimates.

A few years back, a Congressional committee studied the effects of oil speculators have on gasoline prices and concluded that they have no effect. If not, why would they risk and invest their time and money to speculate buying oil futures if they did not profit by selling the oil contracts at a higher price than they paid?  I guess everyone understands that profits are derived from a cost being added to the selling price, except those employed in a government committee.

King Solomon judged everyone with only two words, wise of fools. I think I know how he would judge the Congressional committee members, and wise would not be the word he would use.

I read in today’s Chicago Tribune of a new listing to make transparent for the public to view potential abusers of Medicare payments. I recommend a similar listing be made available for the public to see who the speculators are so we can boycott their business.  Boycott is our only alternative to do something to end oil speculators because Congress will never do anything. Maybe because the speculators are probably big political fund contributors?  We will never know if we do not know the names of speculators, will we?

Reference Posts

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